Dion Waiters suspended by Heat for third time this season. This time for six games.
Guard Dion Waiters is facing his third team-issued suspension of the season.
In a statement released late Thursday night, the Heat announced that Waiters “has been suspended without pay for his failure to adhere to team policies, violation of team rules and continued insubordination.” Waiters’ suspension begins immediately and will last for six games, with the guard eligible to return after the Heat’s Dec. 23 home game against the Jazz.
Between the three suspensions, Waiters has been suspended for 17 games this season. He has yet to play this regular season and has been active for just four games.
Waiters was suspended for the first game of the season, for what the team called unprofessional conduct — including complaining on the bench during the Heat’s preseason finale and refusing to do one mandatory weigh-in. Then he served a 10-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team, with that suspension ending after the conclusion of the Heat’s Nov. 29 game against the Warriors.
The recently completed 10-game suspension was related to a series of events involving Waiters that began with complaining about playing time in the preseason, continued with social media shots directed at Spoelstra and teammate Tyler Herro and it culminated with an alarming medical situation involving Waiters on the Heat’s flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles on the night of Nov. 7, a source told the Miami Herald.
Upon completion of the 10-game suspension, Waiters issued a public apology and traveled with the team on its recent three-game trip. He was active for two of the games on that trip (Dec. 3 vs. Raptors and Dec. 4 vs. Celtics). Waiters was unavailable for the first three games of the Heat’s current homestand, with the team listing him as sick.
In a statement issued by the Heat on Nov. 30 after Waiters served his 10-game suspension, Waiters said: “I would like to apologize to my teammates, coaches, basketball staff, the fans and the entire organization for the incident that happened on the team plane. I was wrong and take responsibility for what happened and am sorry for what it put everyone through.
“I am happy to be back with my teammates and am looking forward to getting back on the court playing basketball.”
In the statement, Waiters is referring to the medical situation on the Heat’s Nov. 7 flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles in which he reportedly ingested a THC-infused gummy.
The National Basketball Players Association recently filed an appeal of Waiters’ first two team-issued suspensions, a league source confirmed. The appeal is over wages lost, with both suspensions costing Waiters about $913,000 in salary.
With the new six-game punishment added in, Waiters has lost about $1.4 million in salary this season because of the three suspensions.
The appeal does not include an attempt to recover the $1.2 million bonus Waiters missed out on for appearing in at least 70 of Miami’s 82 games.
Although the possibility of Waiters achieving the bonus has been ruled out, the Heat will not receive $1.2 million in cap relief under the hard cap. Bonuses are not calculated until the end of the season even if the requirements are not met during the season.
The salary Waiters has lost because of the suspensions does not translate into cap relief for the Heat either. Miami still doesn’t have enough space below the $138.9 million hard cap to add a 15th player until 10-day contracts are allowed to be signed on Jan. 5.
During Waiters’ 10-game suspension, he traveled to Syracuse, New York. Along with watching his alma mater defeat Seattle on Nov. 16, Waiters also used the trip to seek advice from Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who he played under for two seasons before entering the NBA.
“I’m not going to lie to you, I’m in a great place,” Waiters said to The Post-Standard while at the Syracuse-Seattle game. “I can only control what I can control at the end of the day, so some things you just can’t allow to take your head the other way, some things happen for a reason. If you stay locked in, if you believe and trust in yourself, trust in the work you put in, you know, it’s a minor setback. It happens. It’s life. You learn from it. The only thing I can do is move forward. Stay focused. Stay even-keeled. Let everything else take care of itself.”
Waiters, who turned 28 on Tuesday, is in the third season of a four-year, $52 million contract he signed with the Heat in the summer of 2017. He has been off limits by the Heat for comment since his initial suspension at the beginning of the regular season.
This story was originally published December 12, 2019 at 10:52 PM.
